As reported in the Times and Mail today, Plymouth City Council is asking households to nominate a family member to be prosecuted should the wrong rubbish end up in the wrong bin. In addition, Town Hall snoopers want to know all sorts of personal information about their residents, including details of medical conditions, personal habits and lifestyles.
This amounts to a disgusting assault on the privacy of the individual and family as well as council-overreach. They’re the ones with responsibility for cleaning the bins. Residents do not pay their Council Tax to be taken to court because some kid walking by threw a used can in the wrong bin. It’s sheer lunacy.
Councils are meant to be municipal stewards of open spaces and public places, bin collection and road maintenance. Threatening people with court orders and ploughing the depths of individual personal information is so far beyond their remit it’s a dot on the horizon. Sadly, this all has worrying echoes of a story back in December last year where Town Halls attempted to prise more information out of taxpayers.
These councillors must therefore be held to account. The Leader of the Council is Vivien Pengelley. When contacting her, be sure you receive a reply from her and not some officer reeled out to take the flak. Michael Leaves is the Cabinet member for the environment who thought up this policy in the first place - so see that you get some answers from him and not the departmental officers. We want the councillors’ views and justifications, not backroom bureaucratic apologia.
The following councillors sit on the cabinet – they have the power to stop this ridiculous policy so ask them:
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- Will they overturn the policy to request residents’ personal information for bin collections?
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- If they won’t overturn the policy, why do they want residents’ personal information?
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- If they agree with this policy will they make their own personal medical information – as well as other information requested – public? Or is it one rule for them and one rule for the rest of us?
Cabinet Members:
Cllr Vivien Pengelly - [email protected] / (01752) 304950
Cllr Ted Fry - [email protected] / (01752) 298457
Cllr Ian Bowyer - [email protected] / 01752 784342
Cllr Peter Brookshaw - [email protected] / (01752) 703234
Cllr Glenn Jordan - [email protected] / (01752) 492889
Cllr Michael Leaves - [email protected] / 01752 304139
Cllr Grant Monahan - [email protected] / 01752 560101
Cllr Steven Ricketts - [email protected] / 07810 878491
Cllr Dr David Salter - [email protected] / (01752) 513605
Cllr Kevin Wigens - [email protected] / (01752) 304139
It’s also worth lobbying the Full Council to urge them to bring this issue up at the next Council meeting and forward a motion against this clear breach of privacy and indefensible use of Council power. Ask them:
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- Whether they are for/against the current policy and why.
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- Whether the Full Council was consulted and whether a vote was taken to ask people to provide medical information when they nominated a family member with responsibility for rubbish disposal.
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- Whether they will move a motion at the next Council to strike down the policy.
Cllr Mary Aspinall - [email protected] / (01752) 667585
Cllr Richard Ball - [email protected] / 01752 310682
Cllr Terri Beer - [email protected] / 07919 284531
Cllr Peter Berrow - 01752 667966
Cllr Lynda Bowyer - [email protected] / 01752 784342
Cllr Gloria Bragg - [email protected] / 07747 710315
Cllr Thomas Browne - [email protected] / 01752 290627
Cllr Mark Coker - [email protected] / 01752 308313
Cllr Susan Dann - [email protected] / (01752) 512939
Cllr Edward Delbridge - [email protected]
Cllr Jill Dolan - [email protected] / 01752 562339
Cllr Jonathan Drean - [email protected] / 01752 701394
Cllr Tudor Evans - [email protected] / (01752) 218314
Cllr Wendy Foster - [email protected] / (01752) 403297
Cllr Ken Foster - [email protected] / (01752) 403297
Cllr Michael Foster - [email protected] / 01752 344107
Cllr Andy Fox - [email protected] / 07816 527202
Cllr Ian Gordon - [email protected] / (01752) 331431
Cllr David James - [email protected] / (01752) 343165
Cllr Andy Kerswell - [email protected] / (01752) 269472
Cllr Mark King - [email protected] / (01752) 316 767
Cllr Samantha Leaves - [email protected] / 01752 518765
Cllr Martin Leaves - [email protected] / (01752) 518765
Cllr Sally Letcher - [email protected] / 01752 304139
Cllr John Lock - [email protected] / (01752) 331051
Cllr Mark Lowry - [email protected] / 01752 299728
Cllr Dr John Mahony - [email protected] / (01752) 565652
Cllr Susan McDonald - [email protected] / 01752 668910
Cllr Bernard Miller - [email protected] / (01752) 776452
Cllr Jean Nelder - [email protected] / (01752) 227352
Cllr Patricia Nicholson - [email protected] / (01752) 348881
Cllr Patrick Nicholson - [email protected] / (01752) 347474
Cllr Christopher Pattison - [email protected] / (01752) 341703
Cllr Pauline Purnell - [email protected] / (01752) 562281
Cllr Eddie Rennie - [email protected] / (01752) 603796
Cllr David Reynolds - [email protected] / 01752 312061
Cllr Brian Roberts - [email protected] / 01752 776924
Cllr Peter Smith - [email protected] / (01752) 345084
Cllr David Stark - [email protected] / (01752) 774331
Cllr Sally Stephens - [email protected]
Cllr Bill Stevens - [email protected] / (01752) 251713
Cllr Jack Thompson - [email protected] / 07732 839515
Cllr Brian Vincent - [email protected] / (01752) 316902
Cllr David Viney - [email protected] / (01752) 402673
Cllr Joan Watkins - [email protected] / 01752 216849
Cllr George Wheeler - [email protected] / (01752) 362511
Cllr Nicky Wildy - [email protected] / (01752) 556008
If you’re sat there seething at Plymouth City Council’s barking policy, then do something about it. It’ll only take you 5 minutes to send some councillors an email asking them why they decided to trample over individual freedoms as British taxpayers give more and more of their hard earned money to Councils. But we have to maintain a strong presence so politicians know we’re watching them, holding them to account and that we won’t let them abuse their power and waste our money. If you do get any responses, please let me know by forwarding them to me at the regular email address.